Sharing cinematic experiences one movie review at a time…plus, something extra here and there

dreamworls animation

The newest DreamWorks animated picture – The Boss Baby – is currently in theaters, so, let’s talk about it!

IMDb summary: A suit-wearing briefcase-carrying baby pairs up with his seven-year-old brother to stop the dastardly plot of the CEO of Puppy Co.

The Boss Baby was written by Michael McCullers, based on the picture book of the same name by Marla Frazee. The film’s story was absolutely ridiculous but nonetheless really fun. The movie focused on the theme of family – a common and classical topic for kid’s animation. The Boss Baby also found a new inventive way to answer a question – where do babies come from? – this question seems to be popular with the animators in Hollywood, as the recent picture by Warner Animation – Storks – also tried to answer it. This picture also highlighted the sibling rivalry and the sibling relationship. Lastly, I loved how the film celebrated the children’s imagination – a crucial part of any childhood.

One of the strongest parts of d The Boss Baby was the picture’s humor. The film used both more adult jokes (like business and movie references, e.g. ‘Cookies are for closers’ from the trailers) and more child-friendly gags (e.g. the insane action and the fart jokes). The picture also had some callbacks to the stereotypical horror movie scenes which felt a bit weird in a children’s movie but were appreciated by me as a grown up viewer.

The Boss Baby was directed by Madagascartrilogy’sTom McGrath.The actual 3D animation was okay – good but not groundbreaking. I think that I and a lot of movie goers just got used to usually good-looking computer animation, so it does not amaze me/us anymore. The film also had a few months of 2D animation and this one montage which felt very old school because of the accompanying music – song ‘Cheek to Cheek’ from 1935 movie musical Top Hat. The character design was also fine, although one supporting character – Stacy – reminded me a lot of Wreck-it-Ralph’sVanellope – a beloved animated character. Lastly, the film’s visuals also were cute enough to match its narrative idea of cuteness as a threat.

The titular character of the movie was voiced by Alec Baldwin. Baldwin embraced the absurdness and the hilariousness of the story and the whole movie and just nailed his performance. He has a long history of voice acting: Baldwin has narrated quite a few documentaries as well as voiced a handful of characters in animated films.

Shrek’svoice actor Miles Christopher Bakshi played the child version of Tim (The Boss Baby’s brother), while Toby Maguire lent his voice to the adult Tim. Other well-known actors/TV personalities like Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, and Lisa Kudrow also had roles of varying sizes.

In short, The Boss Baby is a perfectly passable animated picture. It doesn’t have the most original story or fresh visuals, but it definitely provides a fine time at the cinema for both kids and adults who can’t grow up (me!).